Wind, Forest, Fire, Mountain
by MeshHeads
Summary: Going solo is a path Kirito always walked, a path that always seemed to agree with him. But in a game of death with thousands of players trapped alongside him, can he still ignore the calls of others? A remake of Fūrin Kazan.
1. Chapter 1

The chaos of the first floor deafened Klein's ears. The atmosphere was choked with fear, and the players knew it. Some players ran for the exits, whether to get away from the screaming or to try and take advantage of the hostile creatures that roamed outside city limits, along with their loot and XP. Some remained paralyzed, shivering by thoughts of the future, their eyes staring in some far off space.

And Klein had to somehow find his companions in there.

He stepped to the side, narrowly dodging a panicked player running out the back alley, before being swamped with more. At first, he was polite, instead shimmying along as best as he could.

But shoves from the mob sent him backwards, almost tripping a dozen people at a time. And elbows to his stomach and chest and face, along with the bloodcurdling screams made him desperate. Klein tried pushing against the wave-like mob. He grunted, but didn't complain.

He stumbled out of the back of the crowd, panting. The cramped conditions made him feel claustrophobic. The cries of terror and help rang inside his head, impossible to ignore. He glanced around, now that he was somewhat deeper into the courtyard.

 _They should look like themselves in real life, right?_

He kept looking, but with every unfamiliar face he saw, the more panicked he became. Whether it was the chaos that drew him to fear or not, it was apparent. His heart pounded faster and faster, forcing his legs into a run.

He frantically scanned the crowds for any familiar faces. He shouted, "Dale! Harry!" while sprinting, already out of breath. He looked back at the fleeing crowds.

 _Did they already leave_ , he thought to himself. He let himself slow to a halt, and wiped the sweat from his forehead. He didn't relent on his search, though doubt picked away at him.

He shook his head.

"Holy shit, Klein?!" Someone breathlessly shouted behind him. Klein twisted around. A man with a red bandana and a thin moustache waved and ran to him, and a giant smile grew on both their faces.

"Dynamm!" They both raised their right hands and grabbed each other's hand, before snapping into a friendly brief hug.

"Where are the rest of us?" Klein asked. Dynamm's smile fell.

"…we panicked. Kaito- sorry, Harry," he corrected himself, out of breath, "Dale, Kunimittz, Issin, they...they split up."

Klein scoured everyone within eyesight quickly, before looking at his childhood friend.

"We'll find them together then," He said, flashing an infectious grin bright with confidence.

"Damn straight," Dynamm said. He turned and noticed crowds of players were stuffing themselves into the various buildings. He tilted his heard towards them. "They might be in the buildings"

"You're right. Worth a shot, let's go," Klein agreed and walked forward towards the crowd. Dynamm started jogging to a different one, but Klein grabbed his shoulder.

"Wait; let's add each other first," Klein activated the menu, his scrolling and taps unhindered by adrenaline and panic. Beads of sweat ran down his jaw, once he was confronted with a lack of tutorial.

"Wow, uh, you're pretty fast. How'd you know how to do that?" Dynamm said, but Klein ignored him, still focused, and clicked on buttons vaguely related to adding friends into a list. Soon enough, Dynamm saw an alert pop up on the edges of his peripheral vision.

"I think we can track each other's location," Klein faced him again. Dynamm stared at him, impressed, but quickly shrugged it off.

"Let's split up."

Klein watched him head towards a shop, simply labeled "Crystal Genesis Goods". He looked toward his friend list. Only one other member was listed.

 _Kirito_

"Damn," he whistled when he saw his location. The game listed him as 10 miles away. Klein jogged to the building straight ahead of him, a building with a giant hammer for a sign. He remembered Kunimittz's style of playing MMOs. Everything meticulously planned. He was crazy about "optimization", whatever that meant.

As he neared the building, he heard shouting, and multiple of the blunt-sounding bleeps the game plays when a player is too forceful against an object. Klein perked up once he heard a familiar voice and saw what was happening through the window. He rushed in, creating "Immortal Object" alerts himself.

"Goddamn selfish _asshole!_ Why did you do _that_ for?!" Kunimittz shouted, throwing a candle at another player, who ducked and avoided the wax projectile. Kunimittz held back his second volley of insults once he noticed Klein. He had a long, narrow face with unusually spiky brown hair, and gaunt cheeks.

"What's going on in here?" Klein immediately came up to him and asked. Kunimittz nodded towards a player at the counter, currently leaning against the counter, intimidated. Klein just noticed the other players in the shop, glaring at the one person.

"The prick literally just bought _all_ the goddamn weapons in this shop!"

"There are other shops in the city! Just go to the other ones!" The supposed culprit shouted back, but Kunimittz shook his head. Klein didn't know if he should say anything.

"You know, there are thousands of players that would like to have better weapons too, y'know. You really think they would leave those shops alone? They'll also be crowded as hell, you dumb-"

"Kunimittz, that's enough man." Klein put his hand on his friend's shoulder, but he waved him off.

"You don't get it! He just _stole_ all that shit from us!"

"Yeah!" Another player called out, "I bet these beta testers are hogging everything to themselves!" Klein saw Kunimittz nodding along.

He scoffed and elbowed him, before shouting. "Ok, did the guy buy a magical sword that shoots beams or something?! It's a store in the _first level._ Even if there was anything good the store had, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have enough money to buy it!"

"But if he did, you bet he would take all the stuff for himself! It's not that he kept everything to himself, it's that he has the _balls_ to do so!"

"Wait, where the hell are you going?!" One of the players shouted when the "thief" shuffled towards the back door of the shop. Most of the players went after him, but Kunimittz sighed and left through the front.

"You know, I'm pretty sure _you_ would've tried to pull the same kind of thing if this were just a normal MMO," Klein told him with certainty.

"This is life or death. There's PvP, right? And they made it open, to any area except the safe zones, as far as I can tell. The last thing I would want to do is piss someone off." Kunimittz grunted and sighed in frustration. Klein patted his back, waiting for him to calm down. Kunimittz sighed again, this time more tired than anything.

"So, what are we doing?" Kunimittz asked. Klein grinned.

"Do you know where to find the rest of us?" Klein said, while accessing the menu. Kunimittz saw a friend request prompt on the corner of his eye.

"No, sorry," Kunimittz responded, and tried to tap the floating message, only to have a look of confusion when his hand phased through.

"…you have to go through the menu. Those messages are apparently invisible to others, so you look like you're waving your hand at nothing."

Kunimittz recoiled, quickly looking around. Klein chuckled.

"Klein!"

His head involuntarily jerked up when he heard his name.

Dynamm called out, running to him. Two others were with him, one rather large, and the other lank and skinny.

"Dale! Issin!" Klein waved at them and ran to them. Kunimittz simply walked. Klein repeated the same handshake he did to Dynamm to both of them.

"It's so good to see you guys," Klein breathed out, beaming.

"Same, man." Dale said. He had curly short hair, and was the tallest of them all. Not to mention the largest. Issin simply grinned.

Klein's cheerfulness faded once he did a quick head count.

"Any one of you guys seen Harry?" Klein said to them. They all ether shrugged or muttered "no". He glanced around, only to see a mostly empty courtyard.

"Crap," He muttered out loud. Harry was the youngest of them all.

"Maybe he decided to grind as fast as possible?" Dynamm wondered. Kunimittz shrugged.

"He might be buying equipment. It's not his first time in an RPG." Dynamm nodded in response, but Dale shook his head. "I'm still worried about the guy. Yeah, he played RPGs, but MMOs are totally different. Everything's randomly generated, side quests boil down to collecting pointless shit, stuff like that."

"The man can handle himself," Kunimittz waved in dismissal but Dale frowned.

"He's 18. He just turned into one," he said back, "and if he makes a mistake, he might die, and we would have no way of knowing."

Kunimittz sighed. "Shit, you're right. Is there even a way to check who died so far, like a list or something? There must be something like that."

Nothing followed except the sound of their breath. Klein looked at them. They were all thinking, all trying to process the situation they were thrust into. The shadow of the Black Iron Castle slowly shrouded them in darkness.

"Guys," Klein called out to them, with as much confidence as he could muster. All of their heads turned, all downtrodden and bleak. He smiled, and motioned towards them. "Come on."

"Where are we going?" Dynamm asked, but Klein didn't answer, and kept his pace. The rest of them followed, now more confused than anything.

The courtyard still had stragglers, players still lost. Klein didn't know anything about Floor 1 and the game. He knew nothing about its enemies, the layout of the city around them, or even how to advance to the next floor. But he knew exactly where to go. He headed to the fanciest place he spotted.

They poured in through the hotel, into a room tiled with pearl white, and glided with gold.

"What are we doing here?" Issin asked on behalf of the others, while Klein interacted with the staff.

"And why the fancy place?" Issin continued.

"I'm guessing Klein's ordering the largest room possible to fit us." Kunimittz answered, and Klein nodded, brandishing a bronze key. He nudged them toward the stairs.

"Come on, it's not too high up,"

"Goddamn stairs," Issin cursed under his breath.

They followed him to the suite silently, into a typical, if extravagant living room. Two sofas faced each other, with a coffee table in between. A window revealed the city's rooftops and empty streets.

"So, what are we doing here?" Dale slumped onto the couch with the rest of the group. Klein leaned on a table, rubbing his head.

"We gotta rest," Klein responded, "with everything going down like this, it would be a bad idea to go outside the city."

They looked at him silently, with downcast eyes. Issin got up and walked past him, exploring the suite. "How many rooms did you get?"

"Four. I'll sleep on the couch." Klein turned towards one of the couches, only to see Dynamm sprawled over one, one of his arms covering his eyes.

"...never mind."

"What are we gonna do tomorrow?" Dale wondered aloud, capturing everyone's attention. His hands fiddled and shook. His eyes were closed, locked in focus. Issin peeked from one of the rooms. Klein shrugged.

"I dunno. We'll figure that out tomorrow." He answered, but Dale turned to him quick, now with balled fists.

"Will sleep really give us some sort of plan?" Dale countered his voice louder and flimsier than his usual soft steady tone. "Harry's out there, _without us._ We should look for him as fast as possible!

"I doubt we'll find him today, man. Look," Klein pointed out to the window, directing everyone's attention. Already the sky was a deep blue violet, with no hint of the orange light that bathed the land moments ago.

"If we look for him now, we'd literally stumble around the dark. It's better to wait until morning." Klein's eyes were stern and unmoving. Dale scoffed, and stood, storming past him with a scowl. But not before Klein stopped him, grabbing his shoulder. From up close, Dale was pale. Despite his size, he looked fragile.

"We'll find him, I promise," Klein whispered, but he still avoided his gaze. "But none of us are in good shape to find him, and neither are you. I'm sorry, but-"

"You're right." His voice was weak, but discernible, and he nodded slowly. "Sorry about that." Klein released his grip, and gave a quick pat in the back. Dale entered a room as Klein looked at the rest of his group. Dynamm in particular nodded and smiled.

"What?"

Dynamm shook his head, with a smirk. "Nothing." Kunimittz walked past him, patting him in the back.

"Let's go to sleep, guys. We'll find him tomorrow." Klein said softly. Dynamm already turned his head over, sleeping comfortably despite the armor equipped on him. He resigned to his room, a small but cozy space with a medium sized bed, and an oak desk across it. He sat down, looking out on the silent streets of the city. Silver rays streamed through the curtains, framing the view.

"It looks beautiful, at least," he muttered, before burying his face into his hands, the fears of tomorrow filling his mind.

* * *

Kirito glanced at his inventory. He sat on a cot, with a small round window in front of him overlooking a grass plain, with forests in the distance. The air was stuffy and musky and smelled of pine and dust. He slowly pushed open the window in an effort to relieve his conditions. If he focused, he could hear the NPC farmers do their routines. There were no enemies in sight, either. He made sure of that.

The sun was still up, if only briefly. The edges of the impossibly bright, blurry circle now touched the trees. There was still time to grind. He stood up, being careful not to bang his head on the roof. He was sleeping in an average farmer's attic, a residence far cheaper than a village inn. His legs complained at his thoughts to continue training. Kirito groaned, and sat back down. His gradually sleepy mind coaxed his body to lie down on the strangely itchy mattress.

 _Why did I run straight to the village? XP is much better than attributes…_

 **"Help! Please!"**

His eyes shot open. Grabbing the window frame, he pulled himself up, looking outside with his right eye. What he saw made him scramble towards the door. His head crashed against the wooden roof. Even with a tingling head, he went down the creaky stairs quickly, shoving past the owners of the house, and darting towards the door. He opened the door, much to the displeasure of the NPCs caring for him.

A man in the default armor and brown hair ran desperately, a sword bouncing on his back, with several wolves behind him. Kirito saw the wolves catch up him, literally nipping at his heels.

"Get in!"

"Shitshitshit!" The player went through the door, and Kirito slammed it shut, but not before one of the wolves went through. The door caught its tail, but the wolf gnashed its fangs dangerously close to them. It barked at the player, flashing its teeth. The player stumbled back, falling over a chair. The wolf tried pulling its tail out the door gap, and turned, seeing Kirito right beside it, pushing the door. The wolf leapt at his face, but Kirito brought one arm in front of him, letting the wolf sink its teeth into his forearm instead. He felt the pack outside charge into the door, one arm not enough to hold them back.

The edges of his vision began to pulse red. He felt the wolf's breath as it thrashed his arm.

"Go up the stairs!"

The man stared at him helplessly, frozen.

"Now!" Kirito shouted out hoarsely, proceeding with a hastily thought out plan. The player ran up the stairs, while Kirito scrambled backwards to get up. The door burst open, and the pack charged in roaring. Kirito managed to wrestle the wolf off his arm, before hastily unsheathing his sword and scrambling up to his feet, before he scrambled backwards a few paces. He was at the centre of the small living room. Three wolves were in his vision, but the sounds of footsteps and snarling behind him alerted him of a fourth. The alpha, a wolf twice the size of the others was several feet on his right. Experience also told him that wolves tend to wait before pouncing all at the same time.

He raised his sword to a certain stance, and the blade glowed. He activated the skill without hesitation, speeding forward in a blur and running the blade through the length of the creature's body and killing it, before crashing to a kitchen counter, an Immortal Object warning appearing in response. The wolves were broke into a frenzy, sprinting towards him, one after the other.

Their bodies lined up one by one, with no semblance of cooperation.

He performed another stance, and gripped the sword with both of his hands and held it behind him, as if he was going to strike upwards. He activated it, and he swung three cleaving, chaining arcs, disintegrating each wolf as they leapt towards him, one wolf for each strike. The last wolf flew past him, in two chunks flying end to end.

He rummaged through his pouch, and drank from a glass flask full of red liquid, chugging it down fast while he reached the foot of the stairs.

He turned left, to see a wolf launch at him, its maw wide open.

The world around him deafened and blurred, his thoughts overridden by instinct. He felt the meaty stench of its breath. Something within him twitched.

Kirito dodged without thinking, his body lurching backwards on its own.

 _SLAM!_

He blinked, winded while everything around him gradually refocused. The canine struggled to pick itself up, whimpering. A sword through its skull dispatched it quickly. Slowly, he climbed the stairs, and looked around, leaning on the door frame. The player flinched and scrambled towards the far wall, hitting Kirito's bed. He relaxed soon after, once he glanced towards Kirito's player cursor.

"You… you saved my life! Thank you!"

Kirito nodded, and noticed a sword in the far corner of the room. He walked towards it and picked it up. Silently, he picked it up, and examined the blade. Its edge was cluttered with rust and notches.

"Oh, it's my sword. Sorry, I panicked and I guess it slipped out of my hand." He held out his palm expecting Kirito to hand it to him.

"Are you going to use the longsword skill?"

"Huh?"

"Are you gonna use a longsword for the rest of the game?"

"…I guess so. Should I use something else? Is the Longsword skill good? It would be weird if it wasn't, but then again, I barely know anything about this game, so..." he rambled. Kirito examined him, and the blade again, concentrating.

"...anyway, uh, can I have my sword back?"

The player was speechless when Kirito tossed the sword aside, clattering against the wood. Kirito then opened his menu, and scrolled around. With a single press, a sword materialized in front of him with a sharp crack, particles coming out of the air, combining into a simple grey sword with a soft leather sheath.

"That sword is close to breaking apart," Kirito held it closer to him, Use this instead."

The player glanced at the sword hilt and back to Kirito several times. "Are you serious?"

"I have a couple more of them," Kirito said, holding it closer to him, "anything's better than the default sword."

The player gripped the untarnished hilt carefully. Kirito let go, letting him feel the full weight of the sword and scabbard. He smiled and chuckled. "Thank you, uh…"

"Kirito," he said, looking away.

He stuck his hand out.

"I'm Harry One."

Kirito nodded, and sat down on the bed. Harry nodded back, and headed down the staircase, attempting to stick the sword on his back.

He sighed deeply. It was almost torturous watching him.

"Wait." Kirito called out, stopping him. "You can stay here. The NPCs won't care."

"Oh, uh," Harry walked back up, and sat on the floor. "Thank you."

Kirito laid himself on the bed, and closed his eyes. The night breeze blew softly through the window, relieving him from the musty air of the attic. The first day was over, with many more to come. A maelstrom of thoughts rested beneath the surface, with concepts of plans for tomorrow, the quickest path to the Anneal Blade, and the location of the floor boss. He noticed subtle changes to the UI of the game, along with changes to some monster placement. _Will that be the only change?_ , he couldn't help but think.

He was far from sleep. And random menu sounds from Harry didn't help.

"Hey, Kirito? Sorry, but, uh,"

"What?"

"How do you put things into your inventory?"

He sighed again.

* * *

 _Thank you for reading, and please don't forget to review._


	2. Chapter 2

"Maybe you shouldn't have spent it all on that room, Klein," Dynamm raised a singular eyebrow with a smirk, after seeing his friend's Cor balance, now in the double digits.

"We need sleep." Klein said affirmatively, turning away from him with a wave of dismissal, before yawning. He rubbed his eyes, trying to calculate the amount of hours he slept, a task that was harder than previously thought. He looked towards his group, all yawning in succession, like a wave of boredom.

"If you count lying in bed scared shitless as sleeping, then I'm ready to go," Issin muttered, massaging his temples in a scowl.

"We have to find Harry soon," Dale said to them, with a clenched fist. "It's our top priority."

"How far do you think he could've gone? It's the second day, so he couldn't have gone far right?" Klein asked the group. Issin responded by opening his menu map. A floating square materialized in front of him, displaying a simple yet detailed map of their immediate surroundings. A black arrowhead was at the center, surrounded by smaller blue arrowheads, presumably representing friends.

"I've read that the floor we're on is about eighty square kilometers. This one's the biggest floor, too."

"Wait, _only_ ten kilometers? That's pretty small." Issin spoke up.

"It doesn't count the dungeons, though. And the cities can be huge. Plus we gotta walk everywhere, in this floor at least" Kunimittz said back.

"So what, we split up?" Dale spoke up. They looked at each other nervously. Klein vigorously shook his head, after seeing his friends' uncertain faces.

"No way," Klein decided, and looked at Dale in particular. "We stick together." Dynamm stretched and yawned, sitting on a bench.

They glanced at each other, almost feeling the worries from each other through the heavy silence.

Klein continued, "…okay, so the map's actually sort of small, right? He could've gone anywhere, sure, but so can we, unless he gets to the second floor."

"I think you find the way to the second floor by going through a giant dungeon. And there's a boss too, so a raid would be planned once someone finds the boss room." Issin added, and Dale decided to finish his thoughts.

"So if we find the boss room, then word's gonna spread and everyone would meet up, right? Maybe Harry will come to that meeting, just in case we can't find him now-"

"It's the man's first RPG, Dale," Kunimittz cut in, "he only played shooters and single player stuff before now. I don't know if he'll be in a raid just yet."

Dale grunted in disappointment.

"Harry always learned quickly though, right?" Kunimittz said, trying to raise spirits. Dale remained silent. Klein motioned them forward, opening his map and facing a certain direction.

"C'mon guys, this way."

It was only five minutes until they were surrounded by the giant outstretched walls of the Black Iron Palace. They headed forward, focused only on the rhythm of their steps towards the next village. Klein's introspection was then interrupted, as he narrowly swerved a player crossing his way.

"Sorry!" Klein said with a sheepish smile, but the player didn't pay any attention.

"Holy shit," Dynamm muttered beside him, and tapped Klein in the shoulder. Players were all around them, drawn to the castle like moths to firelight.

"Hey!" Klein called to the player, waving his hand aimlessly. The player turned around, his face gaunt. "What?"

"Where are you going?"

"Oh," he paused, turning towards the castle and back to him anxiously, "there's a stone tablet there."

Dynamm shrugged and nudged his head towards their path.

"It contains all the names of the players. I heard it also lists the names of those who died."

In sync, they launched towards the massive chamber that was the entrance, the sound of virtual lungs gasping for air the only thing they heard. Klein pulled away from the group, his Agility stat higher than the others. Before long, he entered the chamber. The hushed whispers of players bounced off the rounded walls, its clarity and volume fluctuating like waves on a suntanned beach, now augmented by squeaks of leather shoes scrambling against the tiles.

The hallway ended in a room lined with onyx columns. Several windows lit the room, just below the borders of the curved ceiling, lighting the room just enough to showcase the tablet, a ten meter wide rectangle of polished marble. Several players were already inspecting it, plastered against the stone. Klein felt his legs forcibly slow down. He panted, and leaned on the wall, just noticing the flashing hollow bar below his vision, with a simplistic silhouette of a running man as an icon.

He pushed himself off the wall, making his way towards it. "Monument of Life," he read out while moving between two players. He heard them read aloud name after name, making their way down the list.

 _Ocavo, Octavia, Odec, Oscar…_

"It looks… alphabetical," Dynamm panted out beside him, heaving and sweating.

"You're quick..."

"I was training before we grouped up,"

"Cool." Klein muttered under his breath, moving to the left, whispering letters under his breath, scanning the names of players. Most were unblemished, but an unlucky and growing number of names were dashed out by an invisible chisel, with further information carved out in real time.

 _Masamune,_ _Poison Dart Trap, 18:09, 6_ _th_ _of Cypress._

Klein tried to focus, but the idea of dungeon traps couldn't escape him. It's a traditional concept in RPGs, but the sheer mention of one in a game of permanent death was unnerving. His eyes unconsciously focused on a name slowly crossing itself out.

"Hey. I found him." Dynamm pushed him on his shoulder, dragging him back into reality. Klein followed his finger, pointing towards a single line.

 _Harry,_ _Fall damage, 20:46, 6_ _th_ _of Cypress._

"Goddamn it." Dynamm whispered darkly, his hands clumping tightly into fists.

Klein froze, his heart dropping into his stomach.

It took all of two seconds until he caught himself.

"Harry One. _One._ "

Dynamm clutched his head. "Oh shit, yeah." He traced his finger down the list.

"OK, he's fine." He sighed, stepping back and groaning with a defeated face. "Sorry for freaking you out for a second." Klein groaned and stood up, still feeling the shock. He nodded, and turned to the rest of his friends, who just arrived. They jogged as if they lacked legs at all. Klein raised his hands, gesturing back to the entrance.

"Guys, don't worry. He's not dead."

"We shouldn't have run then…" Issin puffed out, leaning on the wall for support. Klein and Dynamm walked past him.

"Come on," he said, in an attempt to goad the rest of them along. Dale looked at them both with a weak face.

"You know, some of us are still in level one!"

* * *

Kirito stepped off the porch. The rough-looking but friendly NPCs waved him goodbye. He couldn't help but raise a single hand back in acknowledgement. Their mannerisms were still so human-like, even if they were just a mass of polygons programmed with fluid animations in the end. His arms tucked behind his head in a stretch.

"Hey! You going somewhere?"

Kirito blinked and stood still. Harry ran towards him, stopping just beside him. "So, where are we going?"

"Uh," Kirito hesitated, avoiding his eager gaze. Harry chuckled awkwardly, after seeing him freeze, stepping back a few paces.

"Sorry, I just wanted some pointers. I… kinda got lost yesterday, so… yeah," he confessed, downcast. He looked up, to see Kirito stare at him quizzically.

"…you have a map right? It was part of the tutorial at the beginning."

"Oh, I found it annoying, so I skipped it. Obviously, that wasn't a very good idea, but I did find a map! It's more like a minimap though-"

"Have you tried zooming out?" Kirito spoke evenly. Harry looked at him incredulously, slacking his jaw in surprise.

"You can zoom out?"

"You don't know how to zoom out?"

Harry gave an innocent shrug, but his smile diminished. "I barely know anything about the game to be honest." he glanced at Kirito's face, deep in introspection once more. Kirito glanced back, thinking.

"Anyway, thanks for saving my life, and sorry for bothering-"

"Do you know how to use a Sword Skill?" Kirito asked him. Harry shook his head confidently, a thin veneer for his embarrassment. Kirito scratched his head. "I see," he said to himself. "Okay."

Kirito started towards the stone road that was the main trail of the Floor. He waved his arm at Harry, signaling him to come along. He beamed and jogged towards Kirito.

"So, where are we going?"

"Horunka Village." He said calmly, though doubts silently formed in his head, doubts on his rate of progression. Conjuring up a thin white sheet of light in front of him with nothing more than thought, he glanced at his profile.

 _Kirito_

 _Level 2_

 _486/500 XP until Level 3_

"How do you do that? How do you make the menu appear with your mind?" Harry asked, cutting through his musings. Kirito hesitated, scratching the back of his neck.

"It's complicated. Since the game is connected to your head, Kayaba made it so the game could read your mind. It's called Telepathic Interface, though it can't do everything. He said the tech's still really basic. I'm still trying to get the hang of it."

"So, if I just think it…" Harry then stared at the air in front of him, glaring at the grass.

"You have to go to the settings first. Though maybe you should just set your UI to 'expanded mode' instead of 'standard mode' first instead of worrying about it-"

"What's you-eye?"

"Uh, you mean UI?" Kirito tried to clarify. Harry nodded earnestly, expecting his answer.

"Never mind," Kirito turned and walked in silent contemplation. Harry shrugged to himself, and proceeded to follow.

Silence defined the next couple minutes, as they followed the gently curving path through the forest. Harry's eyes started to glaze over from boredom. After some time, the layered chirps and cries of various birds overlapped the hum of branches whistling with the wind, blending into a peaceful ambience, a masterful craft of audio engineering from the developers.

Kirito stopped calmly, with a barely audible grunt of annoyance.

"Huh? What's wrong- holy shit!"

A boar with thick dark fur stood between them and a handful of wooden cabins in the distance, snorting menacingly. Red eyes glared at them both with laser-like focus. Kirito exhaled in annoyance; Harry stepped back, startled by the red cursor floating above it.

"It's a Frenzy Boar," Kirito observed the obvious, before turning to the panicky man beside him. "Go kill it."

"What? You kill it," he responded in a subdued, shaky tone. The boar snorted even louder and put its hooves in position, scraping its right foot over the stones multiple times in quiet fury.

Harry turned to Kirito frantically, seeing his sword already in his hands. Harry unsheathed the blade on his back.

"You have to learn how to fight sometime, Harry. You can kill it." Kirito said, gazing at him, erasing his panic if only for a moment. Kirito quietly looked at him many times. It was his primary means of communication. But this time was different somehow. Harry nodded calmly.

"…okay. Wait, did you just call me by my-" Kirito pushed him before he could finish, forcing him away from the path of the charging swine.

"You know one Sword Skill, right?"

"Yeah, I-I think so!" he said, tracing the pig's path with his eyes. Whatever confidence Kirito gave him evaporated.

"You have to time a Sword Skill right when it's close; otherwise it'll just scurry away and attack you in Post Motion."

Harry, with a sword on his hands, shook while the pig patiently watched, waiting to charge at him.

"…how could I do that?" he stuttered out, trying to hold the sword between them. "It's so fast!"

Kirito held out his hands, trying to calm him, but Harry didn't notice, his vision glued to the boar's every action.

It snorted.

"Aah!"

"I think you're just panicking. If you relax, I'm pretty sure you would find the pig to be slow-"

"This is _slow?!_ " Harry turned at him with indescribable shock.

"No, not slow," Kirito shook his head, "it's just predictable." Kirito tried to explain, but was interrupted when the pig launched at Harry. He yelped out loud, before waving his sword in front of him wildly. The pig charged right into his chaotic swinging, the blade cutting deeply, yet barely chipping away at its health.

"Come on, use your Sword Skill!" Kirito shouted, but it was pointless. Harry was paralyzed while the boar slammed its head at the center of his chest, launching him with a small thump and a screeching squeal. He scrambled up, a sword still on his hand. He brought the blade behind his shoulder, like a bat. He heard a sound effect play. Just to his luck, he peered behind his shoulder, to see his sword shimmering in blue. He flashed a devious grin at Kirito.

"Great! Now make sure to time it-"

Impatiently, he activated it instantly once it completed its charge. The sword arced in front of him, forming an instantaneous crescent that whiffed through the air in system-augmented speed. Harry blinked, staring at his hands in utter shock.

Too bad the pig was out of range. The creature snorted as he completed the arc, and charged right at him.

"Why can't I move?!"

"You can't move right after a Sword Skill. That's why you have to-"Kirito then booted the pig out of the way. "...plan it."

He then watched Harry stand and wait for the creature to get up again. _Obviously, he's too afraid of it,_ Kirito thought, and opened his inventory.

Harry's hands shook when he saw _it_ coming.

"Try this." A shield was held towards him, a large round wooden circle with a worn coat of red paint and a rusty handle right in the centre. Harry snatched it, and braced for impact.

The pig thumped against the wood, taking a sliver of damage while delivering barely any force, before landing on its back. Harry quickly brought his sword up, and cut it in half, killing it.

"Well, that was easy." He said to himself, out of breath.

"Good job."

Harry glanced at his shield, and back towards Kirito.

"...can I keep this?" He said, and Kirito shrugged. They both sheathed their weapons, and headed out. The rays of the rendered sun beamed from the sky, surrounded by a vibrant blue sky. A path to the village was now open, the home of an essential quest. Harry smiled, but he stiffened once a boar grunted from behind.

"Thanks for teaching me, Kirito. It's really been a great help." Harry One smiled at him sincerely. Kirito threw a sidelong glance. "No problem."

A gentle gust of wind blew, swaying the trees slowly and blowing any loose leaves into the sky. Kirito glanced at Harry, who was inspecting his newfound equipment.

"Now all I have to do is find Klein."

Kirito froze.

"You're friends with Klein?" He asked. Harry glanced at him and shrugged. "Yeah. You know him?"

Kirito's brief surprise faded into his usual composed look.

"You know him?" Harry One repeated. Kirito nodded, and wordlessly opened a menu out of thin air, his arms still at his sides. Harry One jumped and pointed.

"How did you do that?! How did you just summon the menu without doing the scrolling thing?!"

"I'm tracking Klein, and-" Kirito turned behind, to see Harry One's dropped jaw. He sighed, "I'll teach it to you sometime."

Harry peered behind him, as Kirito scrolled through a simple colored map, his eyes seemingly controlling the movement.

"There," Kirito pointed at a green marker, slowly proceeding towards the village.

"Where are we?" Harry prompted Kirito to zoom out, with a hand gesture, gradually revealing the trail and mountains around his group, and themselves.

"We're a bit far-"

"But we could make it, right?"

"Um," Kirito hesitated. Klein was east of them. Another marker lay west of them, with a green circle representing the forest, and its connection to a quest. In the extreme distance, Kirito gasped once he spied an outline of Little Nepent, with a red speck on top. He knew only one out of two hundred of those creatures possessed a quest item needed for getting an excellent sword as a quest reward. The only reason he noticed the monster in such a large distance was because of how rare it was.

But he also knew that Klein was probably fighting back monsters at this very moment. His marker was still, only moving in quick bursts. It was the second day, and Harry only just defeated an overly aggressive pig. _To send him alone_ , he thought, _would be suicide._

"Kirito?" Harry spoke to him, but he kept staring at the Nepent in the distance. Harry looked to the east. With tenuous steps, he walked the trail to the main road.

"I'll go with you,"

"Really? I thought you had to do this quest? You said it was really important," he said, his face scrunching up in confusion, Kirito shook his head.

"…it can wait,"

"…okay, uh, thanks!" Harry smiled at him again, despite Kirito's lack of acknowledgement to them.

"You remind me of Klein."

"Really? How'd you meet him."

"I taught him how to use Sword Skills. You're a much more nervous, though."

Harry chucked weakly. "Yeah, you're right. Was he braver? I bet he was. He says he's been playing RPGs since he was born, so I bet he's already leveled up!"

"Really? Since he was born?" Kirito asked him. Harry nodded, excited.

"Yeah! He said he grew up on _Fire Emblem, Final Fantasy,_ stuff like that."

"What about you?"

"Oh!" Harry reddened, fumbling with his hands. "I'm weird. Not a lot of people play shooters in Japan, but I do,"

"Like American games?" Kirito turned to him. Harry faced the ground,

"Not really. I mostly play in arcades, especially the light gun games, though I also play Western stuff. It's so weird though."

"What's weird?" Kirito glanced at Harry. He had a solemn look, staring at the forests around them.

"I played open world games, but this is different. I never felt so lost in a game before. Even the open world ones I played give you some sense of direction. This game, it's so different than I'm used to."

"Quests can give direction, right?"

"Yeah, but which one's the important one? The main one?" Harry asked him. Kirito stayed silent for a moment, thinking,

"There isn't. There are campaigns that last through multiple floors, but they're still side quests. The closest thing to what you're saying is the Floor counter in our profiles."

"Yeah. I guess I'm still lost."

"Just know that every quest is a valid one." Kirito said absentmindedly, but Harry stopped, chuckling.

"Wow, uh, it's very nice of you to say that," Harry told him sincerely. Kirito paused and with a hand, motioned him.

"Some quests are too high level though. Avoid those." He said bluntly before turning away and continuing on their path.

"Okay, never mind then." He waved the subject off, laughing nervously again. His head was still crawling with questions. He still saw the game to be overwhelmingly complex. All of SAO's limitless functions, working simultaneously to breathe life into the virtual space around him left him with a pervasive sense of unfamiliarity, like the black of night obscuring an otherwise beautiful valley.

Harry looked at Kirito again. He walked forward, tense but determined.

He still knew little about the trap he now resided in.

"How could you tell which quests are in your level? Does a quest say the recommended level?"

Kirito's shoulders rose in a shrug.

"No it doesn't. It's not that simple. You have to figure it out-"

Harry stared at him with an incredulous face.

" _Figure it out?"_

"It's not that hard, it's easy, most of the time," Kirito interjected, murmuring the last segment. The man behind him groaned.

A shrill roar boomed in the distance, suddenly emanating from the forests before him.

"What…was that?" Harry said behind him, unusually quiet and downcast.

The roar repeated, seemingly shaking the branches of the trees from sheer force.

"Out of all the random encounters to meet, you meet the big one, Klein." Kirito remarked grimly. "Come on!" Kirito launched into a sprint, "We're not too far away!"

Harry followed him instinctively, his head running wild with theories. Random encounters were still just words to him. In all the games he played, there were no truly random encounters, just scripted events that were only shocking the first time. Is that kind of mechanic even fair in a game like this?

Kirito begun to pull away from him, and the gap between them was increasing, with no signs of stopping. Harry tried to push harder, but he only watched him disappear from his sight, sharply turning around a corner.

The roar repeated, making him jump. The shrilly squeal would barely count as a roar, if not for the sheer magnitude of volume. Harry gritted his teeth; he was close enough not to hear the echo, but its source. The sound passed through him like liquid, as if the game engine rendered them to be physically tangible.

"Shit! Get back!" A voice shouted hoarsely. A spark of familiarity coursed through him.

"Klein!"

Harry turned the corner, seeing the backend of a boar twice his height, a mass of blue fur with legs half the size of tree trunks. The least worst feature about the monster was its health; its healthbar already sank halfway.

Kirito ran with a luminescent blade, striking and leaving a red gash of colorless polygons. With a squeal, a hoof struck him like a whip, blowing him back seemingly with no effort. Despite the force, Kirito balanced himself in midair, recovering from the blow still upright, sliding backwards on his feet with his left hand on the ground to balance him further and absorb the force. He stopped right in front of Harry, the man dumbfounded by his feat of acrobatics.

"What?"

"Nevermind. Kirito, what is that?"

"Miniboss." Kirito answered simply, "Only one exists in this forest, with a specific path. Normally you have to track it, but sometimes, you can just come across it."  
"Well, that's fair."

"I can't get a good hit unless someone tanks it," Kirito continued, "Same goes for your friends. If I just attack, I'll get counterattacked. I need someone to get its aggro while I attack."

"Um," he stuttered out. He only understood half that sentence; though amid the chaos he decided not to voice his confusion. "Okay, I think I get it. I'll have to block the hit when you attack-"

"Yes! We gotta take it down quickly too, since we have no healers- hey, Harry! Focus!"

Harry stared at the boar, paralyzed and trembling. The boar turned, and for one moment, he saw Klein, holding a curved sword forward. He couldn't see the people behind him, but so far, he seemed to be the only one fighting the beast head on. His scruffy face was calm, yet numerous beads of sweat ran down his neck. He saw the HP displayed above him, the bar painted in a cautious yellow.

He solidified, clenching the grip of his shield even tighter, his nervousness replaced with anger.

"Come on!" Kirito leapt forward, sword in hand. Harry followed him, putting his shield above his face with both of his arms. He heard the familiar metallic sound of a Sword Skill activating beside him. Kirito delivered a series of rapid cuts, each eating a significant chunk of the creature's HP.

"Get ready!" Kirito shouted, still recovering from the skill. Harry stepped in front of him, the ragged shield ready for the kick.

The boar raised its hoof.

Harry held his shield even tighter, now bringing his shoulder forward to absorb the blow.

But it didn't come. Kirito, now free from post-motion, instinctively brought his sword back again, activating yet another skill.

"We got its full aggro- keep the shield up!" Kirito shouted, once he saw Harry hesitate and peek.

The animal twisted around, head reared back and eyes glowing. The tusks started to glow red, matching its eyes.

"Get back!" Klein shouted hoarsely, correctly reading the next attack.

The attack was easily identifiable even to a beginner, the standard telegraphed heavy attack used by many creatures in RPGs. Kirito leapt back cleanly, holding his sword confidently despite its shoddy state, while Klein stumbled backwards out of range in exhaustion, propping himself up with the tip of his sword buried in the dirt.

Harry stood still, tightly gripping his shield with clumped fists. His focus narrowed, shrouding away everything else around him like a fog, including Klein's instructions.

"Harry!" Klein called out in a desperate hope to get him moving, but Kirito, through the noise and adrenaline, saw his entire body tighten, anticipating the impact. It was too late for him to avoid it.

He scrambled forward.

 _CRASH!_

"Gah!" Harry struggled to maintain his block, the tusk now embedded within the mess of wooden splinters that used to be his shield. A yellow bar labeled with a fist icon rapidly drained, along with his HP.

On the edges of his vision, Kirito held his blade against the tusk. His face was screwed in concentration, his blade barely holding steady from the pressure. The boar's breath puffed against their faces as their feet slowly slid back against the grass.

"I can't hold much longer!"

"Hang on!" Klein emerged from the side of the boar, running with a glowing sword held low. In a flash of system-assisted speed, he twisted, his blade carving out the face of the boar upwards, like slicing a thin piece of ham. The HP bar shrank to one quarter, but it was still alive, and the mob's face still held in place, much to his disappointment.

"Let go!"

Harry didn't respond, his mind shrouded by the threat directly in front of him, peering into the red glow of its eyes. Kirito examined Harry's HP, quickly comparing the two with whatever focus his instincts can lend him.

He let go, stepping back efficiently and narrowly avoiding the wavering tusk while Harry was pushed off his feet, hitting the ground while his shield shattered into air. At the same time, Kirito moved his sword to his side, freezing in position. His body ached at the prospect of three skills in a row, but his mind was clear. He saw the boar's face rise into the air, and a combination of knowledge and reflexes predicted its next move. Harry weakly picked himself up, still dazed. The tusks were in the air, shadowed by the sun. His hand went to the sword on his back, but the boar was faster.

"Get away!" Klein ran up to him, pushing him away with his shoulder. Harry entered Kirito's field of vision. Instantly, his concentration broke, as he traced his path back to Klein.

 _Did he push him-_

 _CLANG!_

Klein pushed against the boar's strength, but Kirito knew he wasn't gonna last more than a second.

But on the other hand, a single tusk was right in front of him, an opportunity to observe closely. A singular crack blemished the otherwise smooth surface, a flaw. Twisting his worn, notched blade slightly, he activated his last skill, Slant, a simple diagonal cut, draining his stamina. The blade smashed into the crack, and cleaved through the tusk, splitting it in half. A heavy, sharp sound rang through his ears, indicating a critical hit. Sparks accompanied the crit, and along with the tusk and sword disintegrating into light, created a fireworks-like display, bright enough to send him stumbling back in a daze.

The boar squealed as its HP lowered into the red zone. Klein, soaked in sweat, fell to the ground in exhaustion, while Kirito froze in Post-Motion. The boar shook its head in an exaggerated motion, indicating its recovery.

"Die, goddamn it!" Harry yelled, pushing out all the air in his lungs, bringing his sword behind his shoulder, launching a heavy vertical cut against its face in a blur, the light of the sword skill forming a crescent. The HP sank to zero, and with one ringing annoying squeal, the boar disintegrated into a huge mass of reflecting shards, the largest death animation both Klein and Harry seen so far.

The only sounds they heard for the next few moments were their own breathing. Either awestruck gasps from the rest of Klein's group, to the heavy, fatigued puffs from Klein, Harry, and Kirito.

"…Hey Harry," Klein breathed out, "Good to see you."

"Same here, man." Harry answered, similarly tired. Klein raised his fist towards him, and they both initiated a tired fist bump.

"That was amazing!" Five others rushed to see them. "Harry, it's so good to see you! Holy crap, we were gonna lose our minds trying to find you!" Dale quickly wrapped him in a tight hug. Klein grabbed Dynamm's arm, and stood up carefully.

"How'd you find us, Kirito?"

"You're in my friends' list, so, I tracked you once Harry mentioned your name."

Harry turned to the five apparent non-participants of the battle.

"So, how did you guys end up-"he stopped mid sentence once he examined the health bars around him, all less than half of the maximum amount, all that much closer to death. His own HP was painted in menacing red.

"We… tried, but we all got hit pretty bad. We had weapons, but we don't know how to use Sword Skills yet. Klein tried to teach us, but I for one, still suck..." Kunimittz said with a bleak face.

"You took a hit, didn't you?" Dale slapped his back, laughing and raising the atmosphere from its drearyness. "That thing you did was awesome!"

"How did that… happen?" Harry spoke softly, watching his HP remain steady.

"You tanked an attack that was meant to be avoided. I didn't see you move out of the way though, so I blocked it alongside you." Kirito said, walking towards him. Dale stepped back in reverence and admiration.

"You cut through the tusk…" They stared at him in awe, as if they witnessed a miracle. Kirito shrugged.

"It was a critical hit. There was a weak point, a crack. It's the same thing with every animal with tusks, or horns, or anything else like that." Kirito tried to wave it off, but they all started paying more attention.

"It must be easy to take these things down then! Man I wish we knew that…" Klein silently cursed, but Kirito turned towards him.

"It's not that simple. Most weak points are constant with the same enemy, but this was a flaw, not a normal weak point. Flaws are randomly generated for each one, so you can't aim at the same spot all the time." Kirito lectured again. He resisted his urge to sigh.

 _Once again, I'm teaching game mechanics…_

 _But it's better for them to know this now than later…_

"Anyway, we're all together! Finally!" Klein said with an ecstatic voice, smiling from ear to ear. Kirito looked at all six of them, as they laughed and discussed the more intense moments of the recent skirmish.

"You have the makings of a great tank, man! It's gonna be amazing!" he heard one of them say. He expected them to be a little worried from the recent foe they faced, but somehow, their reunification made them seem to forget about their most recent fight for their life.

Kirito has been to many raid groups, huge 48-man coalitions. Floor bosses weren't the only mobs to warrant such a large scale effort. There was always one unfortunate trait within these groups, selfishness. Fights over loot weren't uncommon. Duels were often used as a way to decide which player, or sometimes guild, would get the better piece of equipment, the virtual collection of polygons the system would grant higher numbers to. Many guilds got along well, but the atmosphere of animosity that could surround them was one of the reasons why he remained solo. He could only imagine how the apathy within groups can worsen, now that lives are at stake.

But Klein's group reminded him of a different side among guilds. Some guilds were overwhelmingly and sometimes annoyingly friendly with each other, friends that _had_ to be carried over from real life. Their bonds translated into battle as well, with cooperation and synergy like no other. Their enthusiasm and empathy were infectious. If there was one magical key to win, it was high morale.

He turned towards the path, but his feet remained indecisive. A part of him wanted to see those six become clearers, but was it possible? Judging by the previous skirmish, they would've taken a casualty. Three players would've been enough, but they've struggled with five.

 _Maybe they just have to learn,_ Kirito thought, but another part of him resisted.

He sighed for the umpteenth time.

* * *

 _Thank you for your patience, and please don't forget to review._


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